Libya's ongoing crisis has sent the London market into the red as oil prices continued to surge.

But the FTSE 100 Index fought back from the worst of its earlier declines, closing down 18 points at 5996.8 as fears over a civil war in the North African country played on investors' minds.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell more than 1.7% as Wall Street reopened after Monday's public holiday and as US investors caught up on events in North Africa.